Ensure your blog is The Cat's Pyjamas before you hit publish

If you are reading this post, you most probably have already started your own business or personal blog and looking for some tips to up your game. While we've extensively written about the perfect blog strategy and blog anatomy, we still see many of trending blogs not paying attention to details before they publish.

The importance of Crossing t's and dotting i's

Now don't take this statement literally, of course with technology and typing who need's to remember to dot i's and cross t's ☺. What I'm referring to here is paying attention to the smaller details before you publish. The blogging market grows more and more competitive each day, so if you are not bringing your A game, you won't see much results.

Here are some simple tips to make sure you attract the maximum visibility to your post before you even hit publish!

✅The Optimum Pre-publishing Blog Checklist

Is your Title Catchy?✅

This is the key o get people to actually read your article! If you don't capture them in the title, they will most probably not even read it! If you stuck for ideas, why not try one of these content idea tools.

Is your article easy to read?✅

When we say easy to read we refer to 2 things, know your audience and speak to them. If you are a finance blogger and your key audience are these readers be sure to use as much Jargon as you like in this spectrum. But also acknowledge that this is a light reading piece, you right click on a synonym for every second word does not make you look smarter - you just land up looking or rather sounding like a snotty know it all. Also, make sure you space your piece out strategically and use subheading to promote scalability.

Is your Post SEO Otimised✅

Make sure you are using keywords strategically through the post and not keyword stuffing. Your Primary focus should be communicated in the heading. URL's need to be short and to the point. And always write attractive Titles and Meta descriptions.

Did you proofread your post?✅

If you answered yes, give it another go! This is one point that always gets me, you really can't proofread enough. the worst thing is when readers point out your typos. Free spellcheckers like Grammarly integrate with your web-browser so they can check your writing as you upload to your platform.

Are your images optimised?✅

Make sure your images are of good quality and as small as possible. Huge images increase your page load time which might frustrate users. Here's how to minify your images. Also, make sure your ad descriptive alt-text so you can rank in Google's image search.

Have you used a Featured Image?✅

This point is as important as your tagline! Some readers are visual and not textual, so they decide on whether they would read your piece by the cover image. Make sure it's attractive, appropriate and does not take up too much space above the fold.

Did you add links to related posts?✅

Adding links is a great way to get users to discover more of your content. In order for this to work best always make sure links are relevant to the context you are using and they have appropriate anchor text. (I've been using this tactic throughout this article).

Did you end with a compelling CTA?✅

So you got your audience to read your article all the way through the end. What now? The answer is what do you want from them? Do you want engagement do you want leads, do you want them to donate to a worthy cause? Whatever your agenda is, as long as its relevant to the article, now is the time to push it. End off with a sexy Call-To-action phrase to put that cherry on top.

Have you added social sharing cues?✅

It's great if users read your article, but it's even better if they share it with their friends and followers. Adding social cues to the end of the article increases the chances of them sharing this piece and increasing your blog's awareness.

All Checked!✅

If you answered yes to all the above and checked them all off your list, give it one more read and hit that published button!

And there you have it, by following these simple steps I guarantee you will increase both the quality of the articles you are producing as well as the quality of the audience you are attracting!

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If you have any questions about blogging or any of the above, comment below or contact us here.

Tags: blogging, Content Marketing, How to